A non all-inclusive variety of applications relevant to the current permeation dispenser apply to such applications as maintaining an inert gas environment, plant feeding, aquarium water treatment, constant lubrication delivery, maintaining positive pressures, and many other applications as will become evident from the embodiments and examples to follow.
Maintaining an inert gas environment applies to such applications as food preservation, including beverages and frozen articles, cigar and tobacco preservation, minimizing oxidation to optics and numismatics, moisture prevention in substantially sealed boxes, shielding sensitive electronics, ammunition/gun storage, museum preservation of items sensitive to the environment (such as vintage documents), and controlling chemical reactions. Desiccants have served many applications for controlling moisture while backfilling a closed container with an inert gas has proven to be an effective method to concentrate the contained environment with the inert gas. Additionally, pulling vacuum on a container has proven an effective method to minimize the oxygen, for example, in a contained environment.
The afore-mentioned backfilling example requires an auxiliary tank and means of a connection from the tank to the closed container. Unfortunately, if a leak occurs over time, there is no additional supply of inert gas introduced into the closed container. Such a situation can prove substantially ineffective, particularly if the container is left unchecked for a long amount of time. Such an example could be a numismatic collection deposited in a safety deposit box. A careful person may include a desiccant with the collection or backfill a closed container with an inert gas. Should the container leak, the entire effort has been ineffective. Additionally, a fuel cell may require that a hydrogen and/or oxygen chamber remain pressurized and the present invention can support this need.
Minimizing oxidation to optics also similarly applies to the above numismatic example. Many telescopes are completely exposed to the elements thus requiring a user to consistently clean delicate mirrors. More complex systems are closed but after time, some optics require that the coatings be stripped off and recoated primarily due to oxidation and/or cleaning the critical surfaces. An inert environment would help to reduce moisture and oxidation problems in delicate optics.
A chemist may require a concentration of a certain gas such as an inert environment to control or prevent a chemical reaction. A small device capable of reliable delivery of such a gas would be very useful in such an application.
A slow gas delivery directly to a plant's root system has been commercially available at least in the form of nutrient sticks that release beneficial nutrients upon contact with water, for example. In a hydroponic application, a slow release of a gas to the water solution has typically been accomplished via a pressure regulator attached to a large storage bottle such as to control pH or increase carbon dioxide levels.
Aquariums have benefited from the introduction of gases into the water for reasons such as maintaining pH or changing gas concentration levels. Acidic and basic chemicals are used, sometimes in the form of gases. A long-term delivery device is not available.
On a heavy equipment vehicle that requires consistent lubrication at its rotating joints, a mechanic typically crawls around the vehicle and lubricates each joint individually on a regular basis. A controlled-release delivery of a compressed gas could be harnessed to inject lubricants directly into all joints thus only requiring occasional inspections and lubricant/compressed gas cartridge replacement. Similarly, applications in elevators, conveyor systems, bridges and other applications that may be exposed to the elements and/or less than easily accessible are equally suited for such a lubrication system.
Maintaining a positive pressure on a closed system is also an aspect of the permeation invention. No pressure regulator is utilized. Rather, slow permeation of the compressed gas fills a container. Excessive pressures are prevented by providing a blow-off or check valve that is easily available in the current market. Maintenance of a positive pressure on a system minimizes the introduction of foreign particles into the positive pressure environment, similar to the function of a clean room.
Many current art compressed gas dispensers, particularly the models manufactured by Genuine Innovations, Inc. in Tucson, Ariz. U.S.A. are manufactured to dispense a non-threaded neck compressed gas cartridge, a threaded neck compressed gas cartridge, or capable of dispensing both species with the same dispenser. U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,388 titled: Compressed gas cartridge dispensing system allowing interchangeable use of different capacity compressed gas cartridges and novel storage feature by Hollars, filed Jul. 22, 2002 exemplifies the capabilities of the current art compressed gas dispensers.
One feature of current art compressed gas dispensers is a lance housing that has been used in part to contain the high pressure from a compressed gas cartridge. Historically, lance housings have been manufactured from metal such as brass. A lance housing also provides an excellent recess or pocket for a seal that is used to contain the compressed gas in a lanced cartridge. A lance housing can feature internal threads that are used to mate with a compressed gas cartridge also exhibiting a threaded portion. A lance housing sometimes exhibits no threads to mate with a compressed gas cartridge and can accept only non-threaded varieties.
The compressed gas cartridge dispenser comprising a predictable permeation rate will function with any of these differing types of threaded and non-threaded lance housings and compressed gas cartridges. The preferred embodiment and alternative embodiments will be exemplified in the following paragraphs and in the FIGS.
The following embodiments will describe the afore-mentioned prior-art and the present invention. Additionally, with the aid of figures, one skilled in the art will be able to understand and appreciate the embodiments to follow.